Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Tanzania the leading source of illegal ivory in East Africa - Interpol

Tanzania was the leading source of illegal ivory in the East African region last year, a new report by Interpol has shown

Tanzania was the leading source of illegal ivory in the East African region last year, a new report by Interpol has shown.

By
comparison, Kenya faced much lower rates of poaching in 2013 partly due
to extensive law enforcement and operations by the government.

At
the same time, the port of Mombasa accounted for the largest volume of
seizures in Africa with a total of over 10 tonnes of illegal ivory
intercepted between January and October 2013.

According to the report which was released Wednesday,
approximately 30 elephants are killed in Tanzania daily amounting to
more than 10,000 jumbos annually.

“A significant
portion of ivory illicitly trafficked to international markets
especially in Asia is derived from elephant populations in Tanzania,”
said the report.

An estimated 22,000 elephants were
killed illegally continent wide in 2012 representing a slight reduction
from the estimated 25,000 jumbos poached in 2011.

Tanzania’s
elephant population has continued to plummet in recent years and in
Selous Game reserve which boasted the world second largest elephant
population at 70,000 elephants in 2006, the numbers have fallen to an
estimated 39,000 in elephants in 2009 and currently stand at 13,084
elephants.

“Moreover, the elephant population in
Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park has declined by 44 per cent since 2006
and now numbers approximately 20,090,” the reports further adds.

The
report which was launched at the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi by
Mr David Higgins of Environmental Crime programme also revealed that
that in 2013, global large-scale ivory seizures reached record levels
and many of these seizures occurred in East Africa or in transit to Asia
with an East African origin.

While poaching in Kenya has
reduced due to more pressure by security agents on poachers, the country
is being used as a transit route with the port of Mombasa becoming a
favourite for poachers.Interpol says Uganda though a landlocked country is also becoming a transit route for illegal ivory mostly from Tanzania.

“Of
particular interest is the use of Uganda, a landlocked country as a
transit point for Tanzanian ivory which is packaged in shipping
containers and transported to the port of Mombasa in Kenya for onward
international transport,” the report reveals.

The
majority of intercepted ivory has occurred in maritime ports with the
loot hidden in shipment containers usually concealed by other lawful
goods.

Mr Higgins called for a new approach in
combating poaching and illegal animal trophies trade saying the same was
linked to fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.

“We
need to be more innovative, we need to cooperate to win this war,” he
said while flanked by the Canadian High Commissioner to Kenya Mr David
Angell.

On his part, Mr Angell said, “we must take
urgent and decisive action to tackle the illegal wildlife trade and
address the current poaching crisis”.